Square Dance History Project
The rich story of North American square dance finally has a home in the digital age.

Round Dances

Creator: Olcutt Sanders (October, 1949)

Olcutt Sanders was a Texas dance historian. He writes, "The round dances that are included quite generally on square dance programs these days originated in Europe in the late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries and gradually found their way across the Atlantic and to Texas. They were called round dances, of course, because they are danced by couples progressing in a counter-clockwise direction around the room."

The author then looks back at the European roots of these dances for couples, including waltz, schottische, polka, Varsovienne, and two-step.

Subjects: Couple dance, Traditional Western (pre-1940)
Tags: , , , , ,

Item Relations

This Item is related to Item: Reviving Old Time Dances (article, Detroit, 1926)
This Item is related to Item: Two-Step at a Square Dance
This Item is related to Item: Mica Flats, Idaho - traditional dance
This Item is related to Item: Polka
This Item is related to Item: Couple Dances at a Square Dance in Southwestern Pennsylvania 1985 - 1987
Item: Round Dance history - the early years is related to This Item
Item: Ralph Piper - Teaching the Waltz is related to This Item
Item: Moore Hall Old Time Dance is related to This Item
Item: Round Dances, 1949 is related to This Item
Item: Two Step is related to This Item
Item: The Roberts is related to This Item
Item: St. Bernard's Waltz is related to This Item
Item: Canadian Four Step is related to This Item
Item: Jessie Polka is related to This Item
Item: Navy Two Step is related to This Item
Item: Gay Gordon's is related to This Item
Item: The Varsovienne in the Southwestern United States is related to This Item
Item: Round Dance is related to This Item

Citation

Olcutt Sanders, “Round Dances,” Square Dance History Project, accessed February 23, 2025, http://squaredancehistory.org/items/show/1664.
Additional Information